Reaction of Atmospherically Relevant Sulfur-Centered Radicals with RO2 and HO2

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The atmospheric oxidation of dimethyl sulfide and other emitted sulfur species leads to the formation of the methylthio radical, CH3S, which can be further oxidized to the CH3SO and CH3SO2 radicals. We investigated computationally the reactions of these three sulfur-centered radicals with the peroxy radicals ROO and HOO. Our results demonstrate that CH3S and CH3SO react with these peroxy radicals to form short-lived peroxide intermediates, which then decompose via a concerted O-O bond scission and S═O double bond formation that results in an increased valence of the sulfur atom. In contrast, CH3SO2 reacts to form stable CH3S(O)2OOR and CH3S(O)2OOH peroxide products, as sulfur is already at its highest valence. Multireference methods were used to describe these reactions in which the valence of the sulfur atom changes.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Physical Chemistry A
Volume127
Issue number13
Pages (from-to)2986-2991
Number of pages6
ISSN1089-5639
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank Dr. Torsten Berndt for helpful discussions. This project was supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (G-2019-12281), the Independent Research Fund Denmark (9040-00142B), the High-Performance Computing Center at the University of Copenhagen, and the New Zealand eScience Infrastructure (NeSI).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 American Chemical Society.

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